A/N: So here, as promised, is a longer chapter. Not by much, but there is some fluff and pairing moments in this one, so hopefully that makes up for it.

Answer to the question: 87 days! That poor mother…

And the riddle: Your age. (Unfortunately) :P

(And congrats to StarshineRose18 who got both answers right!) ;D

Still a disclaimer.

Insomnia

He shouldn't have been surprised when he found himself staring up at Mika's apartment building, or when his feet began to carry him towards the entrance without protest. Her door was locked, as expected, but he hadn't just been sitting idly during his time with Akatsuki. He'd learned a few tricks along the way.

Pulling out a senbon needle from the pack on his hip, he twisted it skilfully in the lock, allowing himself a small smirk when he heard it click open. However that smirk soon evaporated when he found himself face to face with a seriously unimpressed looking redhead. He scoffed. He preferred her natural hair colour.

'You know, if you knocked, I might actually let you in.'

He flashed her a grin, seeing that he was off the hook. 'Yeah, but where's the fun in that?'

She tutted and stalked into the kitchen. She was wearing a loose fitting T-shirt that hung to her thighs with a dark pair of shorts poking out from under the rim, and her hair lacked its usual signature pigtails on either side of her head, swishing down her back as she walked.

He made himself comfortable as she pottered around the kitchen, and the sound of pots occasionally being clinked together made him think she was tidying them away. When she was done, she walked right past without even a sparing him glance, entering her bedroom and closing the door behind her.

He listened to her rustle around for a while, before she finally poked her head through the doorway.

'I'm going to bed, please try not to destroy the place while I'm not supervising you.'

'Pfff, as if I would.'

'…So, you're not gonna leave?'

'Do you want me to?'

She thought for a minute before answering honestly. She really didn't want to be alone tonight, and she guessed she owed him for saving her earlier. 'No. You erm, can sleep in here if you're staying… I suppose.' She nodded her head backwards, gesturing to her room.

'It's been a while since I played sleepover with someone.' He chuckled as he moved to follow her in.

'Oh shut up, you imbecile.' She snapped, already irritated as she threw him a blanket from the end of her bed before snuggling under her duvet.

He turned a full circle and settled himself in the corner near the door, and she failed to hide her amusement as the action reminded her of an animal preparing to sleep.

Falling into a comfortable silence, Mika allowed herself to relax as she lay back against her pillow. It was only then that the paranoia began to set in, as it often did when the time came for sleeping. Only on this night, it was particularly heightened. Some people would call it insomnia, but she didn't care to give her condition a name. All she knew was that it was annoying as fuck.

She turned over, forcing herself to breathe normally so as not to alert her companion of her discomfort with the night. The night was dark, the dark was unknown, and the unknown was… well, unknown. And that scared her.

If the Jashinist noticed, he didn't show it. Several minutes passed, her ears twitching uncontrollably at every slight sound, the wind against the window, footsteps from the apartment overhead, the sound of Hidan's breathing. Until finally, she could bare it no more.

'Hidan?'

'Hm?'

She didn't reply, unsure of how to word her next sentence.

'What?' He pressed, rolling over to examine her silhouette as she leaned up on her elbows.

'Erm, you can…' She swallowed the lump in her throat. Why was she so nervous? It was no big deal, just a suggestion between friends. 'You can sleep on the bed if you want.'

He raised an eyebrow he knew she couldn't see through the darkness, hesitating for a moment before making up his mind. '…I knew you loved me really.' He smirked, earning himself a pillow to the face.

'Shut up or I'll change my mind… and no funny business!'

'Yeah, yeah. You're just in denial!' He clambered to his feet slowly as she scoffed, moving to stand beside the bed as Mika shifted to the edge to make room before he slipped beneath the covers.

They shuffled in silence for a moment before they were both readjusted and comfortable on opposite sides. Mika let her eyes slide shut, feeling slightly reassured that she was not quite as alone anymore, hoping the company would ease her nerves.

The wind had picked up slightly outside, but as long as the noises remained identifiable, she was fine.

She tensed as something banged close to her front door out in the apartment hallway, closely followed by drunken laughing and the sound of neighbours scraping a key against wood, failing to insert their key. Letting her shoulders sag, she released the breath she had subconsciously held at the sudden disturbance. Hidan failed to either notice or bother commenting, so she focused her attention back on a deep breathing exercise she had been working on.

The minutes ticked by uneventful, until finally, she felt her eyelids drooping tiredly. She was so close, so close to sleep when something smacked loudly and suddenly against her window pane, making her bolt upright in bed as her bulging eyes shot to the window. Just a tree branch…

Her breaths came in short shallow pants as her racing heart slowed back to a reasonable pace. She let out a barely audible groan and flopped back onto her side, facing the window. She jolted again violently when she felt a heavy lump fall over her side, but almost instantly registered it as an arm.

'Just relax already.' Hidan had moved so that he was pressed up against her back, his arm resting lazily over her side and curling around her stomach. She would have batted him away, but something about their position made her feel safe and something akin to protected, and right now, heaven knew she needed to relax.

'You're a freaking nervous wreck.' He murmured softly from just behind her ear, then more cockily stated, 'you don't have to keep your guard up so much when you're with me. I'm fucking S-rank, seriously!'

She rolled her eyes at the smirk she could practically hear through his voice, but tried her best to oblige. She squirmed a little, readjusting so her head was tilted up slightly, giving her a clear view of the ceiling. However Hidan's hot breath on her cheek soon had her flushing and snapping it back to the side.

She cursed her luck before actually relaxing, sighing with content as she finally allowed sleep to overpower her.

The year of her twelfth birthday was a difficult one for Mika. Twelve, not quite a teenager and not quite a baby anymore. Not that she was ever treated her age, if she wasn't being spoken down to like a patronised little child, she was being informed that a 'young lady like herself' should act more sensibly. Really, what the hell did they want from her?!

Currently sitting in the perfectly cut grass and tied by a toddler harness to the garden fence in her foster families front yard, she couldn't help but act out. She was bored, damn it. Ripping out another fistful of grass, she turned defiantly to her mother figure with a devious glint in her eyes as she released the green strands in front of her, smirking as the woman's face reddened with fury.

'This is your final warning, young lady. You do that one more time and it's the cane for you!'

Mika's nose crinkled at the thought. This particular family were god-damn strict and particularly fond of inflicting punishment on the girl, i.e. the cane. Not to say she wasn't asking for it.

Honestly, she was beyond caring. They could throw her out on the streets and leave her to feed out of trashcans and dumpsters right now, and she'd just be glad to see the back of them.

Huffing, she turned her back on her foster mother and slyly continued her game of destroy Mr and Mrs Perfect's perfectly cut lawn. When she lost interest in that game, she moved onto to destroy Mr and Mrs Perfect's perfectly painted fence panels.

From inside the house, the phone suddenly began to sing in its irritatingly perfect tone, and Mrs Perfect was forced to tear her death glare away from Mika's small form and run from her perfectly arranged tea set on her patio table to answer it.

Finally, this was what Mika had been waiting for. She fiddled hurriedly with her harness clasp, almost laughing out loud when she found herself free and running for her life out of that damn boring garden and down the country lane.

She wandered for hours, never once hearing the dreaded shrill calls of her current foster parents, but then, she wasn't really listening for them. Besides, she was pretty sure she left the Hidden Sound village a long while ago.

In her small, twelve-year-old mind, this had seemed like the perfect idea. Escape from foster family, find a new life on the road, maybe even get a job and work. It wasn't unheard of for children to work, but then again, most of them worked with their families and surrounding adults to supervise them.

Mika scowled at the thought. It's something she'd always wanted, and something she'd resigned herself to realise that she'd never have. A family.

By now, the sun had long since set, but twelve-year-old Mika wasn't afraid of the night or the darkness. Not until she heard a faint but distinct rumbling in the shadows.

Thunder? She glanced upwards at the dim sky, squinting at the stars that were shimmering clearly above her. No, not thunder.

Shrugging her shoulders lightly, she dropped the concern and continued down the country lane she had turned onto not long before. She wasn't sure how long she walked for, but by the time she had spotted lights on the horizon she had several painful blisters forming and her muscles were screaming like there was no tomorrow.

She paused momentarily to rub one of her feet, when the same rumbling sounded again behind her. She spun on her heel, wincing with the pain as her pupils widened futilely to try to see through the night.

But again, there was nothing.

Gulping down the fear that threatened to rise, she reluctantly set off once more, her eyes wide and her senses alert, flinching at every noise.

When the first street of the town came into view, she broke into a relieved jog, not stopping for breath until she reached the first house, which she noted, was also the biggest. The unique design of the roof tiles stood out and were hard to miss and seemed vaguely familiar to Mika, but then, she wasn't really into house décor. In fact, it just reminded her of Mr and Mrs Perfect's ridiculously boring conversation the day before about whether or not they should re-brick the chimney.

Who cares?! It's a damn roof.

She yawned noisily, clambering up the stone steps to the doorway and reaching out to tap lightly on the wood.

The porch light flickered to life, startling her momentarily, before the door was slowly pried open by a tall, greying male. Mika's eyes widened for a split second, something sparking in her memory as she met his hard expression.

He regarded her suspiciously, before opening the door further and towering over her small form. 'May I help you?' He enquired, his voice tired but even.

'Umm,' Crap, she needed a story! 'I was out with my family when I got lost…'

'They must be worried about you then.'

Fat chance. She only nodded in response, feeling slightly miffed that he hadn't offered her a place to sleep. She shifted her weight awkwardly onto one foot, glancing down at the floor until she heard the man sigh.

'Come on in. You can stay here till morning I guess.' The floorboards creaked as he stepped aside to let her pass, not missing how her eyes lit up with relief as she entered. 'This way.'

She glanced up at her host, frowning lightly as she stumbled after him up a rickety set of stairs. 'Umm, thank you for letting me stay Mr…'

'Tatsuo.' He mumbled, seeming to only vaguely be paying attention to her.

Grumpy old geezer, she thought in distaste. They rounded a corner in the hallway upstairs when he stopped and gestured to a door.

'This is one of the spare rooms. We'll figure out what to do with you in the morning.'

She gave a meek bow, figuring not to push him since he really didn't seem like a very hospitable man. 'Thank you very much, Mr Tatsuo, sir.'

He only grunted in response, and with that, disappeared back down the stairs.

Mika grinned to herself. See? This wasn't so bad, she survived the escape and the journey, and now she'd found herself a bed for the night too! She could do this. It was all looking up from here on out.

She could definitely do this.

A/N: If you have any ideas for scenes by the way, I'll be happy to try and fit them in! Please keep reviewing, I love you for it and I need to know what you guys think to improve or change anything :)

Okay so, question of the day: If a smoker goes into a coma for long enough, do they wake up without the craving to smoke? (Not a riddle!)

Riddle: What is light as a feather, but even the world's strongest man couldn't hold it for more than a minute?

See you soon!